The present invention relates to a gun lock for a hand gun, such as a pistol or rifle, to prevent the owner or any other person who is authorized to use the gun from firing the gun at times when it is inappropriate or dangerous to do so.
Mechanical gun locks are designed to be installed on the gun in a position behind the trigger to prevent the trigger from firing the gun. These gun locks use a mechanical key that can be easily duplicated, and the locks themselves can be compromised by means of a master key or a lock pick.
Furthermore gun locks can be opened by anyone in possession of one of the keys. With such gun locks it is not possible to restrict the use of the gun to the gun owner or to some other person who is licensed or otherwise authorized to use the gun.
The aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/763,951, filed Feb. 11, 2013 discloses a gun lock which uses a “smartphone,” such as an Apple “iPhone,” as a key to unlock the gun. This system is difficult to compromise and allows only the gun owner, or some other person who is licensed or otherwise authorized, to use the gun.
Unfortunately, even the owner of a gun, or another person otherwise properly authorized to use the gun, may have the intention, as an act of anger, revenge, hostility or the like, to use the gun inappropriately and thereby cause bodily harm or death to another human being. In such instances, it would be desirable to allow a third person, who may or may not also be authorized to as the gun, and who may or may not be the person in danger of bodily harm or death, to lock the gun and prevent its inappropriate use.
Also, within certain areas, such as in the vicinity of a school, place of worship or other location where people gather, and/or near a particular person who has obtained a protective order against someone who has threatened violence, it would be desirable to prevent the operation of a gun.
Moreover, it would be desirable to prevent the firing of a gun, even by the owner or another person otherwise properly authorized to use the gun, when such owner or authorized person is intoxicated or otherwise acting in less than a sane and sober manner.
Finally, it would be desirable to prevent the firing of a gun in situations where the owner, or another person otherwise properly authorized to use the gun, has not planned in advance to make use of the gun. In this way, it may be possible to avoid unpremeditated uses of the gun that may occur in the “heat of passion.”